Uruguay

While they weren’t entirely convincing in their qualifying campaign, the Uruguayans have twice won the World Cup on South American soil. The experience is there, which will help them in a tough group. They are good enough to at least make the quarter-finals.

How they got here

Always fans of late drama, Uruguay left it late to become South Africa’s fifth team at the tournament but came up trumps with a 5-0 aggregate playoff win over Jordan.

The stars

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez (pictured) has been in prodigious form this season and he forms a lethal front-line partnership with PSG attacker Edinson Cavani. Player of the 2010 World Cup Diego Forlan may be getting on in age but he’s still capable of match-winning feats.

The coach

Oscar Washington Tabarez. The former primary school teacher is in his second stint in charge of La Celeste, having been at the helm during this latest tenure since 2006. In that time Uruguay finished fourth at the 2010 World Cup and won the Copa America a year later.

Strategy

Tabarez’s men will make themselves hard to break down by defending deep. When attacking, they tend to switch from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-1-2.

Strange but True

During his time in Holland with Ajax, Suarez became so renowned for not only his ability but also his pointy ears that he featured in a Dutch hearing aid commercial.

World Cup history

Uruguay’s World Cup history is a tale of two halves. From 1930-1970, the South Americans were hot property on the global football landscape, claiming the first ever title on home soil and making it two from two when they next entered in 1950. Their next four appearances garnered two fourth-place finishes and a quarter-final berth at England 1966. The last four decades have been less forgiving for the two-time champions, who failed to qualify for Germany 2006 at the hands of Australia, but a fourth-place finish in South Africa provided Los Charruas’ best finish since 1970.

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